TRANSLATIONS AND NOTICES 



OP 



GEOLOGICAL MEMOIRS. 



O71 Plants from tlie Ketjpee Sandstone, in the Eotal Museum of 

 Stuttgart. By Prof. Kuer. 



[Proceed. Imp. Gaol. Instit. Vienna, August 8, 1865.] 



The species best represented is Equisetites arenacens. Several speci- 

 mens distinctly show Calamites concealed in their inner portions. 

 Certain bulbous forms decidedly belong to Equisetites, of which two 

 species may easily be distinguished ; the first is similar to a bottle 

 with a protracted, thin, and broken neck, two inches in length, 

 and with a folded and wrinkled surface. Fragments of stems with 

 tubular processes, broken away and at some distance from the stem, 

 induce the belief that the bottle-like bulbs were connected with 

 these processes. The second bulbous form is oval or spherical, oc- 

 casionally compressed, of the size of a hen's or goose's egg, and 

 generally with a smooth surface. The best preserved specimens 

 show a mastoid protuberance, with a small funnel-shaped cavity on 

 its apex, and with vestiges of a vagina. This protuberance has 

 generally been supposed to have been the point of insertion of the 

 stems of Equisetites into the tubers. The vaginal follicles, however, 

 ai'e directed towards the apex of the protuberance, and not towards 

 the body of the tuber or bulb ; the protuberance must be therefore 

 considered as having been the real bud, and in connexion with the 

 bulb, of a young Equisetites in the beginning of its growth. Only 

 two of these bulbs exhibit distinct superficial cavities, analogous to 

 those on potatoes, but now filled up with mineral substance. 



Aiiother remarkable fossil plant is Calamites Meriani, Brongn. 

 One specimen is 1| foot in length, and has perfectly preserved ver- 

 ticillate leaves, each from 3 to 4 inches long and J^ inch broad ; the 

 lower whorls have from eleven to thirteen such leaves ; the stem is 

 distinctly striped and ribbed. A series of specimens offers transition 

 forms between Calamites Meriani and C. sidcatus, Kurr. 



There are also fine specimens of Cheiropteris digitata, Kurr and 

 Bronn, in the Stuttgart Museum ; the most conspicuous one of this 

 species is in the University Museum of Tiibingcn ; its stem is about 

 1 foot long and 1 inch in diameter, the well-preserved, irregularly 

 digitated leaves are spread on its apex. One of the Stuttgart spe- 

 cimens shows a remarkable trifurcation, descending nearly as far as 

 the stem, the two lower symmetrical lobes having the form of a Sacje- 

 nopteris ; and the third or median lobe, incompletely preserved, may 

 be supposed to have been also tripartite in its upper portion, as the 



VOL. XXI. — part II. E 



